WEST VIRGINIA'S HEMLOCK TREES BEING WIPED OUT

(03/16/2006)

West Virginia's eastern hemlock trees are being wiped out. A tiny sap-sucking insect has already claimed thousands of trees in the eastern United States. The hemlock woolly adelgid, which is similar to an aphid, was first detected in WV in 1992. Since then it has killed thousands of trees, according to Karen Kish, a forest entomologist with the West Virginia Department of Agriculture. "At this rate, it's not going to be too long before we lose all the hemlocks in the state," Kish said. She expressed concern for state parks where large hemlock stands are prevalent. The insect is believed to have migrated from Asia and was first found on the West Coast in 1924. It can now be found from Maine to Georgia and as far west as Tennessee. Scientists say the very tiny insects advance at a rate of about 15 miles a year, carried by wind, birds and the movement of infested nursery stock. They feed on the sap produced by the hemlock, killing a tree within three years. Efforts to control not been successful.

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